Horse-collar fastener.



PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

W. TERRY.

HORSE COLLAR FASTBNER.

APPLICATION TILED P161831. 1908.

WITNESSES: film/WW ATTORNEYS nu: NORRIS PETERS ca, wasmuonm, n. c.

WILLIAM TERRY, OF PEARL CITY, ILLINOIS.

HORSE-COLLAR FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 30, 1908.

Application filed February 21, 1908. Serial No. 417,121.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM TERRY, residing at Pearl City, in the county of Stephenson and State of Illinois, have invented a new andImprovedHorse-CollarFastener,ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention, which relates to means for securing the upper ends of horse collars, more especially has for its object to provide an improved construction of such means of that type in which two opposing interlocking plates are provided, and my said invention comprehends certain details of construction and novel combination of parts, hereinafter fully described and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Horse collar fasteners of the type referred to usually include a latch lever mounted on one of the interlocking members and held spring pressed to its locking position, and for cooperating with a latch member mounted on the other locking member that snaps into a locked engagement with the latch lever when the two opposing members of the fastener are brought together.

In the practical use of the spring closed latch levers, especially in cold weather, they are sometimes diflicult to quickly and properly adjust, by reason of the arrangement of the springs that cooperate with the levers.

My invention more especially has for its object to provide an improved construction of latch device and a spring that cooperates therewith, whereby the lever can be entirely released of the spring pressure so it can be easily, practically and instantly moved en tirely out of engagement with the latch so the same can be positively engaged therefrom, means being also provided'for preventing a too far throw of the latch lever when released from the latch lug.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, is a perspective view of the fastener, the two parts being shown as firmly locked together. Fig. 2, is a similar view and shows the manner in which the spring held lever is adjusted for releasing the latch lug. F ig. 3, is a horizontal section of my improved fastener, taken substantially on the line 33 on Fig. 1. Fig. 4, is a detail perspective View of one end of one of the fastening members and the adjustable binder plate that cooperates therewith.

In the practical construction, my improved collar fastener comprises a pair of opposing curved plates 12, adapted for being secured to the upper ends of the two members of a horse collar respectively, and each of the said plates has a pair of outwardly extended arms 10-20, each of said arms being formed with a longitudinal slot 11 and a series of apertures 12, the latter being provided for receiving the sets of projections 31 on the inner ends of the binder plates 3030 that are clamped upon the arms 1020 by screw bolts 4 and nuts 4, the bolts passing through the slots ll ll and the plates 30 and made fast by the nuts as shown, such arrangement of parts providing for adjustably mounting the binder plates 30 and holding the same firmly to their adjusted. positions.

The adjacent or inner ends of the plates 1 and 2 have angle portions that form face plates 1323, one of the said plates 23 being iorizontally slotted as at 23 for the passage therethrough of the latch lug 13 integral with the plate 13, the said lug having the usual tapered face and locking shoulder as shown.

3 designates a latch lever that is fulcrumed near one end upon a pivot bolt 5 on the plate 23 and which extends to the other end of the said plate 23 and terminates in a head portion having a segmental slot 33 for riding on a headed stud bolt 24 projected from the plate 23 that serves to hold the lever from lateral or twist strain as also for limiting the outward swing of the lever when it is adjusted to the latch releasing position, as shown in Fig. 2. It will be noticed that the lever 3 is mounted on the face plate 23 in such manner that its lower edge normally projects over the slot 23 so as to be engaged by the bevel face of the latch member when it is forced through the said slot 23 so as to drop back into the locked engagement with the said latch when its locking shoulder proj ects beyond the said lever 3. The lever 3 is normally held to its locking position by spring pressure and it has a flat lateral extension 34 with which engages the free end 40 of a flat spring 41, the inner or foot portion 41 of which is riveted to the plate2 in such manner that the outer or free end can be readily bent back from under the extension 34, which extension, as is clearly shown, is located adjacent the pivoted end of the lever.

By arranging the spring 4 as shown and described, the same can be readily moved from under the lever, see Fig. 2, so as to permit the said lever being freely swung out of engagement with the latch, since it is then entirely free of spring resistance, thus making it easy to manipulate with gloved hands and also to hold the lever to its outwardly swung position during the manipulation of adjusting the two plates, since the springs can be held to bear against the end of the lever to act as a brake for holding the said lever from freely dropping down to its locked position, it being obvious that by pressing the spring in the outward direction the latch will drop to its locked position, when, by releasing the pressure on the free end of the spring, the said end will swing back under the extension 34 and firmly hold the latch to its locked position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A horse collar fastener that comprises two members having opposing face plates, one of the face plates being slotted, the other having a latch memberfor proj ecting'through the slot, a locking lever pivotally mounted on the slotted face plate, a spring for normally lug for projecting through said slot; of a lever fulcrumed near one end of the slotted face plate, the pivoted end thereof having a lateral extension, the other end having a slotted head, a stud on the face plate for engaging the slotted head and a flat spring having a foot portion secured adjacent the pivot end of the lever and having its front end normally projected under said lever and adapted to be bent back from engagement with the lateral extension of the lever, for the purposes set forth.

WILLIAM TERRY. Witnesses:

FRED! LUETTMANN, F. P. BENDER. 

